The first of three LDSD flights, Saturday’s launch was designed to determine the flying qualities of the saucer-shaped vehicle.

The flight included deployment of two new technologies — an inflatable device and mammoth parachute about the size of the Rose Bowl.

“This was a really good test,” Dan Coda, a JPL engineer, said Saturday in an interview on NASA’s UStream channel. “We were able to inflate the balloon, get up to altitude and get up to speed. We met all the goals.”

Although a parachute attached to the device didn’t fully deploy, engineers said tests that don’t go well are far more valuable than those that go without a hitch.

Ultimately, Saturday’s test was to simulate a landing such as a large-cargo vehicle landing on Mars.

The test was initially delayed after wind and rain near the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai eliminated an entire six-day launch window. Saturday marked the first day of a new launch window.

Technology for landing on Mars has been used since the 1970s, according to NASA officials.

Enormous parachutes, for example, are necessary because the density of the Martian atmosphere is much less than Earth’s atmospheric density and requires a greater amount of surface area to create drag for large missions.